I Would Be Happiest...

I am trying not to have this blog be all about Mac but he is just so funny right now. On the way home from Preschool the other day he started telling me that I "built him human." I told that I did build him human as he grew in my body. Then he proceeded to tell me the story of how we really got him. "You [Mom] went to a group of Monkeys and asked them if there was a baby monkey that you could have and they gave you me. Then you took me and built me to be human. And I am Wolverine too. I was a Wolverine Monkey and then you built me human. And you know what Mom, I would be happiest if you just took me back there." Can you tell that he recently watched "Tarzan"? He has got the most amazing imagination. I am just hoping that he will someday like his own name and want to be called be it.

We had to quickly do our entire month of thankful pennies so we could give them to our primary for the deadline of Pennies by the Inch fundraiser. So we just wrote down and counted all the things that we were thankful for for the whole month. Here is our list.
11th 13 for our 13 years of marriage
12th 10 for tithing
13th 10 for the years we have had Anikka
14th 7 for the years we have had Ben
15th 4 for the years we have had Mac
16th 1 for Ike
17th 3 for our Bishopric
18th 12 for the Prophet and Apostles
19th 9 for all of our Primary Teachers
20th 4 for our Home Teachers and Visiting Teachers
21st 10 for our copies of the scriptures
22nd 0 no debt on Ryan's car and Credit Cards
23rd 13 for the Articles of Faith
24th 2 for our Cats
25th 2 for Ryan's jobs
26th 12 rooms of our house
27th 2 for Food and Water
28th 12 years of the kids education so far
29th 2 for the Doctors we know
30th 6 for our Modern Conveniences
The grand total of our thankful pennies was 382. It doesn't seem like that much when you put the decimal in the right place, $3.82. It was really fun and the kids loved it. I think it will be a great thing to do every year.

More Thanks

Yesterday I was rear-ended. It wasn't very fun but with all the really nice people that I have been dealing with it has just become a minor inconvenience. It was just Ike and me in the car and we are both totally fine. I am thankful for nice people and safety.
On Saturday we were thankful for Grandparents so we put in 4 pennies. On Sunday we were thankful for all of our aunts and uncles and we put 15 pennies into the jar. On Monday were we thankful for our cousins and we put 15 pennies in the jar. On Tuesday Ryan said he was thankful for water, gas, electricity, TV, Internet, and garbage pick-up so we put in 6 pennies. On Wednesday, Ben said that he was thankful for Temples so we put in 135 pennies and nickles. (Cool, huh! 135 and that does not include the 15 under construction or the 16 just announced). Today we put in 2 pennies because we are thankful for our cars. I sure am liking this penny jar. It is so visually cool to see all the things that we are thankful for.

Mac = Big

Mac has a huge personality and he often over shadows everyone else in the family. Especially quiet and obedient Ben. He is big fun and also big trouble. We are trying a few new discipline tactics around our house. One is the Repenting Bench. It is a gospel centered time out. When they sit on the bench they are to think about what they did wrong, say sorry and then ask for forgiveness. Mac spent a lot of the time on the Repenting Bench the other day. That night when it was time to report and say good night to Dad who is in Chicago this week, Mac told him that "Today was the happiest day of my life because I love the Repenting Bench!" Ryan couldn't help but laugh. We have a long road ahead of learning to balance him and the rest of our children.

Today we were thankful for our eyes and we put 12 pennies in the jar.

Stealing Thankfulness

Well we are hanging in here. Life is rough and good too. I have had more down days than up over the past year. I am just dwelling on the negative and thinking mostly about myself. I am wallowing and I would like some sympathy for it too! So in trying to act like I am a happy, thoughtful person until I become it (fake it til you make it), I am stealing a super great idea from one of the great blogs that I read. My friend Beth's blog vermillionrules.blogspot.com is so great and she is the most service oriented person I know. She is so kind and thinking of others all the time. Every day in November she and her family are counting things that they are thankful for and putting that amount of pennies in a jar. The jar will then be donated to a charity at the end of the month. The other day they counted shoes. I love this idea and I am so totally stealing it. On the first day of November we put in six pennies for every person in our family. Yesterday Mac said he was thankful for God. We put in 3 pennies for Heavenly Father, Jesus, and the Holy Ghost. Today Ben said he was thankful for our country. We put in 50 pennies. I am excited to see how this evolves. I am very thankful to others for their great ideas.